How do you know if your religion is the right one? Are you the same religion as your parents? Maybe not same sect, but still general philosophies..? If you had different parents, could you believe in a different religion? If you had been born in the Middle East - it's very, very unlikely that you would be a Christian. This infers that people don't truley find their religion for themself. Thoughts?
I'm a Frisbetarian. I believe when you die, your soul flies up on the roof and you can't get it down.
Well, I was born and raised Catholic. I also attended Catholic schools for all but 2 years of my education prior to college. When I was born, I was baptised Catholic and the ripe old age of zero. As I got older, I began taking serious issue with the fact that this decision was made for me. I thought it was pretty rude to just make someone the same religion as you without any of their input. So when it came time for my confirmation (age 17), I told my mom that I didn't want to do it because I wasn't ready to commit myself to Catholicism for the rest of my life. I wasn't ruling it out as a possibility, I just wasn't ready at that age. Well, she did NOT like that at all. I was thinking that she should have been proud of my for having that volition rather than just blindly accepting it. We fought and fought about it and she ended up 'forcing' me to get confirmed. Yeah, I know, seems to defeat the purpose. So here it is, 9.5 years later, and although I haven't been excommunicated, I don't really consider myself a Catholic. The religion simply does nothing for me mentally or spiritually. It's too archaic and doesn't seem to be based on a lot of rationale. Every single mass is the exact same. The sermons vary somewhat. But if you go enough, you'll hear the same ones repeated. But you're exactly right. Most people don't find religion for themselves. They usually just accept it as part of their upbringing without questioning it out of fear that they will be 'wrong' by doing so. That brings up another point. I have a hard time taking seriously people who base their religious practices on fear.
Hmmm... a little google search reveals that there is such a thing, sorta, as Fresbetarians. Interesting. But what if your outside when you die?
Chaos, I was baptized Catholic but raised Methodist whom also do confirmations but at age 13. I too told my parents that I would not confirm. They all just thought it was me "rebelling". I went to every single confirmation class (I agreed to - how could I make my decision without being informed?) and in the end that take you into a little room to ask you the questions. Q: "Do you take Jesus Christ as your Lord & Savior?" My Answer: "eh, No." You should have seen the look on the church ladies' face... she stuttered for a minute and then asked why I had come to every class, the fieldtrip & everything. I explained it to her & she said she was impressed that I was willing to come to them even though I wasn't going to confirm & that nobody had ever done that before. The family wasn't happy about my decision but they beating me wouldn't have been enough to make me lie and say I believed something I didn't.
Yeah my mother, bless her heart, pretty much ruled with an iron fist. She was a single parent all my life so she pretty much had to. I think at that point I was just trying to avoid conflict around the house as much as possible. I guarantee you it's not something she would have gotten over in a short amount of time.
I usuallly drink beer and do some bar-b-quing on Sunday. I guess that means I attend the Church of the Holy Smoke. :hihi:
What are you insinuating, frogleg? 'Raided' would imply that we weren't welcome. Maybe the devout ones just haven't made it over to FSA yet today.
